Since the 1990s when a Japanese right-wing scholar created the "China Threat" theory, Western scholars have used the theory in analyzing China's rise as a leading player in the international arena. In 2010, the U.S. declared its "return to Asia," balancing power against China in the Asian-Pacific Region. This blog interprets and analyzes news, especially Sino-Japanese, Sino-U.S., and Japanese-U.S. relations in the Asian-Pacific region fairly

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Friday, December 31, 2010

Yuanmingyuan-II

In 1860, the Western powers, such the British and French, invaded Chinaand destroyed Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace. They were looting and smuggling the finest pieces of the Chinese collections out of China. Thanks to voices of the Chinese people in the internet, Beijing finally decided to send a team of experts to museums around the world to investigate a million cultural relics which were looted from Yuanmingyuan. According to the Chinese media the team will go to museums in the US, Britain, France, and Japan. “But based on our rough calculations, about 1.67 million relics are housed in more than 200 museums in 47 countries (CCTV).” As the Chinese media states, “A country’s history is of interest to its people before those of any other nation. Having artifacts in a single location that is convenient for tourists and historians, but not the people of the country from which they were taken (South China Morning Post).” Will the Western countries hand over these relics to Beijing?